Northumbria lecturers vote to walk out

Lecturers at Northumbria University today voted to walk off the job indefinitely in protest against the university's plans to dock their full pay during the marking boycott.

Northumbria members of the lecturers' union, Natfhe, unanimously agreed to ongoing strike action if the university refuses to back down on its threats to withhold pay.

Natfhe and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) have been refusing to mark assessments until their demands for a 23% pay rise over three years are met. The AUT is also refusing to set exams, which is threatening to delay graduations across the UK.

The dispute showed signs of escalating this week as employers threatened to withhold pay from academic staff who refuse to mark papers.

Lecturers at the University of Abertay Dundee, who are members of the AUT, were warned this week that they would lose 30% of their pay if they continued with the marking boycott and the deductions used to pay a private consultancy to set exams. Similar threats have been made at Newcastle, Luton and Bournemouth.

Universities have also started making local offers to staff in a desperate attempt to resolve the dispute and allow students to graduate on time. The University of the Huddersfield today offered staff a guaranteed minimum salary increase of 5% from August 1 this year, with a commitment to match any figure that is secured nationally.

John Tarrant, the vice-chancellor of the Huddersfield, said: "As there appears to be no solution to the national dispute we believe there is an obligation on us to do everything we reasonably can to bring the dispute at Huddersfield to an end, in the interests of students and staff." Martin Levy, the Natfhe branch chairman at Northumbria, said today's vote was "a magnificent response and a unanimous call for strike action if the university does not see sense".

"Members are solidly behind colleagues in the law school here whose pay will be withheld 100% from today because they refused to mark work for an exam board due next week. We have been inundated with messages of support from lecturers across the country horrified by the action taken by our management. Thousands of lecturers know that their union and their conditions of service are now at stake."

Mr Levy said the union would serve official notice of its intention to strike on Monday and strike action could commence on May 23.

A spokesman for Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said: "Higher education institutions take the potential risk of disruption to students arising from the industrial action by AUT and Natfhe very seriously.

"Universities UK is currently exchanging information with its members on the practical measures higher education institutions are taking to mitigate potential disruption to students, and to help them formulate their individual responses to the action. The aim of these contingency plans is of course to ensure that as far as possible students will not be disadvantaged by this dispute."